When people first come to a martial arts training hall, they’re looking for something. Sometimes they say it’s just a skill set they want. They talk about being attracted to the art of fighting and wanting to be able to do it well.
Sometimes people say they’re looking for more. They talk about wanting an Asian cultural experience or a workout that has some meaning or purpose besides just getting in shape. But what people say they’re looking for and what they’re actually looking for are not always the same. When a martial arts instructor interviews potential students, he gets only what they’re able or willing to reveal.
THE QUESTIONS you, as an instructor, must ask new students are as individual as the students themselves. There’s no set list of questions that can tease out everyone’s motivations. But there are general approaches. One I favor is finding out what need their martial arts study is serving. I ask them about their interests and expectations and note what they felt strongly about. As I observe them in class and get to know them, their unspoken needs often become apparent.
For example, the guy who says he’s just interested in getting some fighting skills may be gung-ho about competing, too. He might pester you about how soon he can compete before he’s even learned how to duck a punch or check a kick. Is he just an adrenaline junkie? Is he star-struck by celebrity fighters and looking for fame? Maybe. But ask a little about the kind of opponents he imagines himself facing and how he feels after winning or losing in practice, and you might find different answers. Maybe he’s a kid with a rough home life and he’s searching for a healthy direction for his anger. Or maybe he’s a guy who lives an existence that’s safe to the point of being soulless and he’s looking for something to make him feel alive. I’ve had both types of students in classes I’ve taught.
AS YOU GET TO KNOW new students, you’ll notice their silences, too. What they consistently avoid can reveal things. I was once in a class with a guy who avoided talking about family. I discovered later it was because he didn’t have a father. It was a sore subject, and he didn’t talk about it much, but it seemed obvious he needed the martial arts to fill that void. Learning how to fight and learning a life philosophy along with it was how that guy was finding his way, learning how to be a man without having a father around to show him.
Sometimes new students are well aware of what needs fighting serves—but they aren’t positive needs. Maybe they just want to hurt people. They might be bullies or criminals, or they might have a misguided sense of justice that they want to mete out with their own hands. Such students won’t tell you their real motivations for learning to fight because they know you’ll disapprove and discontinue their lessons.
Example: One teenager I taught had a verbally abusive stepfather and was open about it. He was a good kid, always respectful and diligent. So I assumed the martial arts just filled a need for a positive, supportive environment. Then one day he asked me if I thought some people actually needed to be physically punished. He talked about how people could be cruel to the point of deserving a good beating—which, he said, would deter future bad behavior and make them better people.
It was obvious he was talking about his stepfather and thinking about using the skills he was learning at home. What followed was a long discussion about justice and revenge and how we have police and courts to make sure justice is served, not vengeance. In the end, he didn’t get physical with his stepfather and found better ways to deal with his problems. But things could’ve gone very wrong if I hadn’t taken the time to get to know him.
IT MIGHT SEEM like new students’ motivations for learning the martial arts are unimportant—or none of your business—but learning about their attitudes, conscious or otherwise, is part of being a good instructor. The more you learn about individual students, the better you’ll be at teaching them the skills and philosophies of your art. With any luck, you’ll also help them understand themselves and learn more than just how to fight.
